An AR-15, used by a 19-year-old to kill 13 students and four staff members at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

An AR-15, used by a 19-year-old to kill 13 students and four staff members at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

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Attendees hold up their candles at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. The teenager accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people and injuring others at a Florida high school confessed to carrying out one of the nation's deadliest school shootings and concealing extra ammunition in his backpack.

Attendees hold up their candles at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. The teenager accused of using a

Attendees raise their candles at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018, in Parkland, Fla. The teenager accused of using a semi-automatic rifle to kill 17 people and injuring others at a Florida high school confessed to carrying out one of the nation's deadliest school shootings and concealing extra ammunition in his backpack.

A procession walks from St. Mark's Cathedral to St. James Cathedral in solidarity and hope following the murder of more than 50 people at a club in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

A procession walks from St. Mark's Cathedral to St. James Cathedral in solidarity and hope following the murder of more than 50 people at a club in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM

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Hundreds fill St. Mark's Cathedral for the prayer, vigil and procession in solidarity and hope following the shooting at a club in Orlando, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

Hundreds fill St. Mark's Cathedral for the prayer, vigil and procession in solidarity and hope following the shooting at a club in Orlando, on Wednesday, June 15, 2016.

Photo: GRANT HINDSLEY, SEATTLEPI.COM

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Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez speaks at a rally for gun safety. Seventeen perished and more than a dozen were wounded in the hail of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the latest mass shooting to devastate a small U.S. community. The students are refusing to let the issue die.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez speaks at a rally for gun safety. Seventeen perished and more than a dozen were wounded in the hail of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

With the Washington Legislature going great guns until adjourning Thursday night, why was it not possible to at least get an age limit of 21 for those purchasing military-style, semi-automatic assault weapons?

"That's a damned good question and one that 7 million people of Washington should demand answers from every single candidate running in 2018," replied Sen. Reuven Carlyle, D-Seattle.

A Republican-run Florida Legislature, while rejecting an assault weapons ban, did at least ban bump stocks, raise the minimum age for firearms purchase to 21 and institute a waiting period. Here, lawmakers could only bring themselves to ban bump stocks.

Our Legislature worked with "incredible speed" on fronts ranging from full funding of K-12 education to passing the Washington Voting Rights Act to scholarship money for the state's students, Sen. Kevin Ranker, D-Orcas, reflected Thursday night.

As to guns: "On this most important area, we have fallen short," said Ranker. "It isn't just disturbing, it is appalling."

"I am profoundly disappointed and I find it shocking," added Sen. David Frockt, D-Seattle, that a "very modest bill" with age limits, background checks and school-safety resources could not get a floor vote.

The Legislature is controlled by Democrats. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, in his State of the State speech, charged lawmakers with passing "common-sense measures that end the scourge of gun violence."

Why not? The gun lobby remains a feared, moneyed presence in Olympia, even though lately outgunned across the state. Twice, in 2014 and 2016, the voters passed initiatives -- notably a 2014 measure closing the "gun show loophole" -- after lawmakers waffled.

But the gun lobby may now find itself answering to Frederick the Great's great maxim: "He who defends everything ultimately defends nothing." (I'm afraid they didn't have gender-neutral language back then.)

The gun-safety movement in Washington, born out of the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, massacre of first graders, has the talent, the troops and the financial resources to put a third initiative on the ballot.

The movement is getting an infusion of youth support, its impetus coming from the remarkable students at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. They wouldn't "calm down" and let the issue die, not after watching a 19-year-old wield an AR-15 and slaughter 13 fellow students and four school staff.

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This Florida lawmaker had harsh words for the student survivors of the Parkland shooting.

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"I am stunned: We are in a bubble in Olympia and oblivious to the wider world," said Frockt. "After Parkland, the conversation changed and we did not respond."

The state will likely see an initiative that would slap an outright ban on the sale of military-style weapons. The National Rifle Association, unable to stay out of this fight, could suffer a loss that would recoil across the country. As Carlyle said Thursday night, "The people are far ahead on this."

A comparison: Law enforcement groups showed far greater smarts dealing with Initiative 940, the ballot-bound initiative to change the state's statute on the use of deadly force by police.

The cops, the lawmakers and De-Escalate Washington worked out a compromise. Out went the "malice" clause that made it virtually impossible to bring wrongful-death prosecutions. The "good faith clause" governing police action stayed in. Washington will now have requirements for violence de-escalation and mental health training for police.

"It is really historic: What was reached between law enforcement groups and De-Escalate Washington is one of the most profound and important agreements I have seen in my time in Olympia," Frockt said Thursday night.

The real instigators of the compromise? Volunteers who collected enough signatures for a place on the ballot if the Legislature had not acted.

Stephen Paolini, field director with De-Escalate Washington, deployed his Facebook page Thursday night, thanking those who "kicked ass" and added: "Fact is, thousands of volunteers and supporters stood up and got this done. Never doubt that power."

With the carnage seen in schools, nightclubs, churches -- even military bases -- the time has come to kick butt on banning military-style weapons.

Quiet pleasure can be taken in telling the gun lobby: Move on over, or we'll move on over you.

Columnist Joel Connelly has written about politics for the P-I since 1973.